The Maltese swimmers provided the perfect finale for Team Malta at the end of Day One of the 2019 GSSE after scooping five medals at the Podgorica Pool on Tuesday.
The swimmers’ fine performances lifted the spirits of the whole Maltese clan who will now head into today’s competition with a tally of six medals – three silver and three bronze – and hopefully more podium placings will be on their way particularly in the athletics programme that gets under way in Bar.
Harry Stacey was the star performer of the Maltese swimming selection as the 16-year-old scooped two silver medals.
Stacey made his intention clear in his opening race, the 100m freestyle as he touched home in second place with a time of 51.10 seconds. He was a mere 0.05 seconds off gold medal winner Julien Henx, of Luxembourg.
Andrew Chetcuti looked on course for a place on the podium as he was second after the first 50 minutes but ended a disappointing sixth in 51.58 seconds.
Stacey then teamed up with Chetcuti, Dylan Cachia and Matthew Galea to storm home in second place in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay in 3:28.67.
“I’m very happy with my two medals,” Stacey told the Times of Malta.
“I really hoped I could win a medal in the 100m freestyle and focused to get straight up for my relay and that worked well.
“Now I just hope to do my best for the rest of the week and the team hopefully will continue to succeed. We are a solid group and get along well together and we always support each other.”
Mya Azzopardi also put on a strong showing, particularly in the 200m individual medley where she managed to take a bronze medal in a new national record of 2:21.58. Her timing was more than three seconds faster than her own previous best.
Azzopardi then joined Francesca Falzon Young, Martina Valletta and Michelle Van Rooyen to again place third in the 4x100m freestyle relay in a time of 3:57.61. Van Rooyen was the catalyst for this medal after putting on a storming swim in the final leg.
Earlier, Azzopardi was sixth in 58.84 seconds finishing sixth while Francesca Falzon Young place seventh in 59.11 seconds.
The Neptunes swimmer could not hide her delight for her performance.
“I’m very satisfied as chopping off three seconds on my national record was overwhelming for me. I’m really happy with the relay also because it’s nicer to win a medal when you are a team. Hopefully now there is more to come.”
The other medal yesterday came from Mikhail Umnov, one of the elder members of this team, when he placed third in the 200m fly on 2:07.65.
The other Maltese swimmer in this race, Dylan Cachia, finished in fifth place with 2:11.47, however improving on his personal best which was 2:12.95.
Umnov missed out on a medal in the 200 metres medley when touching home fifth in 2:09.67, while Thomas Wareing was seventh in 2:13.31.
In the men’s 200m backstroke Thomas Wareing missed on bronze finishing fourth with 2:09.00.
In the women’s 800m freestyle Michelle Van Rooyen finished in fifth place clocking 9:19.75, with Sasha Gatt placing sixth with 9:21:44, considerably improving her personal best which was previously 9:28.75.
Umnov said that seeing so many young swimmers succeed in GSSE is surely a huge boost for the sport.
“Personally, I always do my best to do well in every race,” he said.
“However, as one of the elder members its my responsibility to help out the youngers to feel at ease and at the same time motivated to perform at the best of their ability.
“In the last years, swimming has seen a huge development. Six years ago Malta had only one swimmer, Andrew Chetcuti, while four years ago we were only four swimmers. This time we are a larger group and hopefully we can inspire more youngsters to qualify for these Games and continue to raise the bar.”
Team Malta swimmers pose with their medal at the Athletes' Village. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli